


Something Wicked This Way Comes

by Estrea



Category: Hello! Project, Kobushi Factory, Morning Musume, Tsubaki Factory
Genre: Gen, Monster Hunters, Supernatural - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-27
Updated: 2016-03-13
Packaged: 2018-04-23 16:36:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4883989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estrea/pseuds/Estrea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Where horrors walk the night, there will always be those who oppose them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The haunting trills of a flute danced upon the cool night breeze, swirling like an errant kite caught by invisible currents. Above, a sliver of moon laid obscure behind wisps of cloud, like a maiden hiding its face from a suitor.

 

Bare feet dangled off the side of the building, only a dozen stories high. The neon lights of the shopping district were far in the distance, and the occasional flickering sign sputtered against the waning glow of the streetlights. The flute wove an enchanting tune, lively yet sorrowful, hauntingly melodious. Not far behind, the door to the roof opened with a rusty screech, jarring against the lilting music. The shuffling footsteps paused, until the flute picked up from the interruption and wove a new web, delicate yet strong.

 

Shambling steps eased up next to the girl in white, her long hair fluttering lightly in the breeze. Her flute was ivory white, painstakingly hand-carved. Finding the right materials had been challenging; they did tend to break so very easily. And really, some of the stains never came off right in the end. Ah well, the joy was in the art.

 

The tall young man in his PJs wobbled on his feet next to her, and she barely spared him a glance. She had seen him earlier, at the pool where he was training with his team. Such beautiful bone structure! She had to have it.

 

Her flute wove a beautiful charm on his senses, weaving a dream beyond dreams, where sight and sound were inked in with the notes of her flute. One step, and another. Slippered feet met air, and gravity took its toll. She was, as always, a harsh mistress.

 

Great wings blotted out the sliver of moon as she followed her prey's descent, her flute trilling a jaunty tune to accompany the fall. She dodged adroitly when the inevitable impact came, painting the grimy sidewalk in blood and bone. Hovering delicately over the macabre scene, she smiled and reached down...

 

A fierce orange-red whip snaked out of the darkness to wrap around her wrist, yanking her down and towards its source. She hissed, the weapon burning into her flesh, and she reversed her grip on the bone flute she carried, whistling a tune as the runes carved on it glowed a dull red. The vibrating instrument severed the red hot whip, and she leapt away, the edges of her dress splattered with the remains of her victim.

 

"Dammit!" The whip wielder made a last futile attempt to lasso the fleeing monster, but it only just missed her ankle. Pulling out her phone, the tiny girl dressed in all black pressed a number on her speed dial.

 

"Colonel! I was too late! The Siren got away."

 

"Don't call me Colonel, that's my dad." A pause, and furious typing could be heard in the background. "Which direction did the target head towards?"

 

"South-south east. That thing's fast."

 

Beat. "I'll alert Renako. She's staking out the other hot spot there. Can you catch up?"

 

A smirk. "Don't estimate the power of PARKOUR!"

 

 _Sigh_. "Do be careful out there."

 

"Aye aye Colonel!"

 

"Don't call me that!"

 


	2. Chapter 2

It was a hot summer night. The windows were flung open, and the covers kicked away in a restless fit. The lone figure on the bed was sprawled in a messy heap, moonlight filtering in to undulate across glossy black locks matted with sweat.

 

The air itself was still. The full moon lent a steely quality to every line and edge in the room, with only the shadows softening an otherwise harsh image. Light cut across a rounded jaw, grinding away in restless slumber.

 

The silence deepened. Beads of sweat appeared on a taut forehead, shifting to fall against an already dampened pillow. The young woman's face angled to face the door of her room, though her eyes were still clenched shut.

 

Not for long, however. She shuddered, sudden and deeply, as the air itself constricted, weighing down on her like a thousand pounds of cotton wool. Her throat seized, choking all possibility of crying out, as a creeping heaviness spread across her limbs, leaving her prisoner in her own flesh.

 

Unable to scream, unable to move. A strange otherworldiness invading her remaining senses. She was alive, she was terrified, she was trapped. Distantly, a clock began to strike. _One, two, three..._

 

Witching hour. A great shadow occluded the piercing rays of moonlight, shrouding the room in a deeper gloom. What weak rays managed to peek past the tiny gaps peppered the ground in a pretty pattern. Like sunlight through dappled leaves, if only a weak imitation. The edges were softer, and as the shadows shifted, something soft fluttered to the ground.

 

"Kiki?"

 

A whisper, a tug at the senses. The air itself shimmered, seeming to grow more real at the name. A _name_. Shadows and nightmare were formless and without substance. One cannot fight that which is not there. One cannot grasp that which is not. A name, by its very nature, anchors possibility into reality. The shadows boiled, a writhing mass over its unconscious victim, as it was forced into form.

 

Dark hair came first, spun from shadow. Limbs came next, carved from marbled moonlight, pale and ethereal. The twisting mass creaked and shifted almost noiselessly, leaving a lone girl crouched on the prone form of the sleeping woman.

 

The visitor waited. Materialization always took something from the _mara_ she had just named. There was something fragile in the embodiment, and the crouching nightmare leaned down to sniff delicately at her chosen victim. She fed off terror, and was dream given form in its darkest incarnation. A low moan came from the sleeper, caught on the brink of wakefulness and nightmare. The sound seemed to invigorate the _mara_ , who shuddered in something akin to ecstasy.

 

"Kiki, we need to leave now."

 

The voice cut through to the shadow creature, and hollow eyes swivelled to meet the intruder's. A pale recognition flicked through the empty gaze, which was of a darkness so deep, it reflected nothing at all. All light was absorbed into the abyss, and one could drown in that dark gaze. It failed to faze the intruder, whose own weary red eyes glowed with an inner flame not so easily quenched.

 

"...sora..?"

 

A voice, little more than a whisper, easily forgotten in the night. It was almost forlorn, lost and confused, like a child missing her mother. It seemed incongruent coming from the shadow creature, its eyes still hollow with need and want.

 

"Not safe here. The hunters are coming. You can't fight them like this, we should go."

 

The speaker held out a hand, which was limed with blood. Some of it was even her own. The girl-creature-child cocked her head at the invitation, then looked back down at her chosen victim. Hunger was etched into every line of her being, but survival was another powerful instinct. She took the offered hand, shying away from even the merest stain of moonlight. She slipped into the folds of the Siren's wings, darkness riding the feathers, away from the searing touch of the sun's reflected light.

 

A sudden rush of wind cleared the blocked window, and the sleeping woman gasped in relief. Breath came back, as did sensation. Her eyes fluttered open in that hazy zone between sleep and wakefulness, catching sight of a single feather fluttering in iron moonlight, soaring away.

 

And then sleep came. True sleep, peaceful and healing.

 

The moon kept its secrets, revealing all and nothing to all within its embrace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't sleep now either. Hello Kiki, you still terrify me.


End file.
